Waiting: The Whites of South Africa

by Vincent Crapanzano

Portrays, in narrative self-portraits, the whites of South Africa--English and Afrikaner--who constitute the ruling seventeen percent of the population and analyzes the effects of power on those who wield it

Genres: Anthropology, History, Nonfiction

361 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Vincent Crapanzano (Dist Prof, Anthropology and Comparative Literature, City University of New York) graduated from the Ecole Internationale in Geneva, received his B.A. in philosophy from Harvard, and his PhD in anthropology from Columbia University. He has taught at Princeton, Harvard, the University of Chicago, the University of Paris, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, the University of Brasilia, and the University of Cape Town. He has lectured in major universities in North and South America, Europe, Hong Kong, and South Africa.

Reviews

[Sergio GRANDE · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before reading this book, one has to understand two things:
a) that it is written by an American academic. His conclusions seem based more on perception than on experience; and
b) the book was released in 1985 and probably researched and written two or three years earlier, at the height of Apartheid.

The interviewees are, for the most part, the underbelly of the society -the kind of white people who gave South Africans a dumb reputation; others are insightful. None of them could have foreseen that 10 years later there would be a Black President.

The book is of historical interest more than historical value.

[Florian Bieber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read about late Apartheid Southafrica and perspective of white South Africans

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting look at South Africa's social history. Lots of anthropology, too. Clear explanation of the different segments of the population and how they interacted -- of course, the book is 30 years old now, so things have changed!